Tuesday, September 18, 2012

The first fire since the summer is lit, and is smoking into the room: The sun-rays thread it through, like woof-lines in a loom. Sparrows spurt from the hedge, whom misgivings appalThat winter did not leave last year for ever, after all...

~Thomas Hardy

Welcome! This is our seventh Note Card Party — and they said it wouldn't last. I'm so glad that you're here. Can't wait to visit you and see what you have come up with this time. You may be shocked that I didn't include a pumpkin nor a mum.

Here I go shamelessly loading up photos for this month's Note Card Party. I need lots of choices. You may need to do the same! ☺

We went to Portland yesterday because I needed some candy corn. Portland's only forty miles south and gas prices being just a little over $4 a gallon, we thought nothing of it. (Okay, that's a bald-faced lie, but I've heard so many of them lately that I think nothing of it. Oops, there goes another.) We actually needed more supplies from the place where John gets our siding and I decided that, since we'd gone that far, we should go to the Christmas Tree Shop and kill two birds with one stone. I just hope that the two birds aren't John and myself as I found candy corn that tastes like plastic because maybe because it's made in China. And a mum for $3...wonder if it was made in China, too. Hmmm...

~Plastic Candy Corn~

~Through the Glass Dirty~

We conveniently got stuck in construction right beside this lovely white home festooned with buntings. The one above is through the dirty window and the one below is when John rolled down his window for me.

This cute little hamburger stand was on my side of the highway all decked out in a leaf garland.

~Wild Asters~

These are growing at John's place along the edge of the road where we get our winter berries. So pretty. Love the yellow and orange centers.

~Wild Oats~

These wild oats grow right across the lane from the wild asters. No, we did not sow them.

I like the composition of this photo, but the light is way too bright.

The new mum is a tomato red. Very pretty. I want some lipstick that color.

A pumpkin, a jack be little, two mums, a bale of straw, and a calibrachoa. That's it. I'm done. No, I'm not. I need to disguise that white pot.

Hope to see you for the party. Mr. Linky will be up tonight between 8 and 8:30. Have fun selecting your photos!

Monday, September 17, 2012

Prices vary from farm stand to farm stand. John and I were out running errands yesterday afternoon...urgent need for kitty litter...when I decided to drag him from farm stand to farm stand.

One of our favorites is on Apple Ridge where two large apple orchards are in business. One of them has a bakery. The thought of a doughnut fresh from the fat vat was very strong. In the end, we didn't go there having heard that people were standing in queue around the parking lot. I like my doughnuts, but not enough to wait for an hour.

We decided to visit a little farm stand closer to home instead. I found a lovely large pumpkin. The price was 25¢ per pound. John hoisted it up and announced that it was seven pounds. It was seventeen pounds. Does $4.25 sound like a lot? I didn't think so. Now it is sitting out on the newly painted deck.

The mums were priced at 3/$15 or $6 each. I only wanted two and I really wanted a larger one. I'm waiting on that choice. So many choices; so many farm stands.

We had a near frost last night. Can you believe it? I covered everything forgetting the tomatoes entirely. I bounded out of bed early this morning when I realized what I had done. All was well here. I'm sure that places in town were hit because the temp was 38F when I looked. Mighty chilly. When will your corner start getting frost warnings?

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Got that deck painted at last. Two coats and I'm calling it "good enough" for who did it and "good enough" for whom it is for. Course now I want to show it
off. Looks as if I'll need to do a little more shopping for mums as only one looks skimpy and cheap. ☺

Find out what others are doing this week at Little Red House. It's always fun to see what Mary's doing. (This week it is thought-provoking.)

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me — watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and rightly. ~Matthew 11:28 – 30 (The Message)

Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Turns out we have extra scallop that we could place above the transoms to mimic the front of the house. I think it could be too busy with the transom windows; John thinks it would be great to use the scallop since we learned that we are not allowed to return it. A little reminder of what will be going on one day soon...

The windows upstairs will be replaced with this one and the doors are going to be trimmed out somehow. John is saying that he is cutting the doors square. I don't know. He's doing something to bring it more in line. As you may remember, we have this wonky asymmetrical garage front because of property constraints and the need for stairs to the side entry. (Before, the stairs came out into the driveway. Since there was a different garage then, it didn't matter. [A single garage door was to the left.] )So, if you have an opinion this fine Saturday, please share. No, it will not cause an argument. I promise!Have a lovely weekend...

Edited to Add: For further clarification, the scallop is a similar color to the siding, but not the same color. It is almond and the siding is pale green sage. We won't be painting. That's the whole point behind siding. =DEdited to Add Again: Oh my! My communication skills are slipping. The garage will have the same siding as the house. It will be light sage green. See yesterday's post about one garage side already having been done. So the brown is going away as the light sage green siding will go over the top. The scallop trim is a complementary color (almond—also the same color as the scallop on the house), while the siding color is as you see on the house. Same color, same batch, same everything. That siding has been waiting in the garage for a year and it's going on over the next two weeks. Just in case that makes a difference for anyone trying to decide. Thanks for your input. This has been fun!

Friday, September 14, 2012

It's so quiet here this morning in the mist. All I can hear is coffee perking, John turning the newspaper pages, and my own fingers clicking on the keyboard. Perhaps Molly's soft whiffling as she sleeps under the piano bench. Wait. Yes, I can hear her. Well, anyway, come on in; John'll give you the comics to read; I'll pour you a cup of coffee; and we do have a piece of that crunchy apple pie.

My big task yesterday was to paint the little side deck over there. The stain was getting pretty tired and worn. If this mist clears, it needs a second coat. That's my kneeling pad — the thing that looks like a giant chicklet. It serves very well to let anyone know that s/he shouldn't use those stairs. In addition, both cars are parked in unwelcoming ways, but don't let them stop you, feel free to use the front door!

This was John's task, which he knocked out in one day. Now he has the garage's east side done. Yay! Oh, sure, I'll keep you posted on the progress every now and then until completion.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Diversion was needed yesterday in light of the day's news. (I have discussed that elsewhere.) So while John worked on the garage, I went off in search of apples, and pumpkins, perhaps a mum...

~The Edge of the Wood~

rather than going for a walk in the woods behind my home (as one has suggested). There's a big, old, wet, nasty ravine between me and that walk so I don't do it. John tells me that there is another big, old, wet, nasty ravine directly behind this scene. Nope, I'll be looking for level ground for my walk. There's an equally nasty walk along the river that is posted "no trespassing." I'll not be walking there either.

~Getting a lot of mileage out of one little windowsill~

I found some wee little pumpkins on the table you first saw above. Are you tired of this scene yet?

And I found some Macs being the only available variety so far.

They made a pretty pie, but those apples baked for nearly an hour and a half and they are still crunchy as if I had used canned apples. Ugh. I quit on making pies. Next time, I'll buy one instead or try to see if I can ruin *this recipe.*(Aren't they cute?!)

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Yesterday's little green leaf allows me to come clean about the water droplets that appeared on *this post.* I don't believe that I ever revealed the answer and so many were wondering way back then in August 2011. Timely, I am not.

Yes, to all those who thought a little spider may have been helping me out. Yes, indeed, the green leaf was attached by the tiniest thread blowing about on the breeze.

We are entering some golden days of September. The morning mists are gone for now and the days are crisp and sweet. They make me want to go walking in an orchard. Instead, I'm noticing the light, which never seems to enter the room playing instead just around the edges.

~Light through a Leaf~

~As Far as the Light Comes In~

~Three Cups in a Row~

What have you been noticing lately?

P.S. Don't forget! A week from today is September's Note Card Party. Clicking on the sidebar button will take you to all the information you need. I'm looking in my files for photos of mums and pumpkins and autumn pleasures. (Edited to Add: Just because I'm looking for autumn things, does not mean that you must or should. I do not mean that photos are limited to only autumn things...not at all!) Hope that you'll join in.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Today is a most solemn anniversary. I am not sure how to treat it in this eleventh year. I understand that the ceremonies today will be led, for the first time, by family members and friends without outside voices, namely politicians' voices. That seems right.

I did some little research and found that many widows and widowers of 9-11 have moved forward and remarried. This is good and I am happy for them. It does not mean that the spouses lost are not remembered. It does mean that the survivors are not stuck or wallowing in a grief that would swamp them if it were allowed.

As a nation, we have moved forward and maintained a continuity of purpose and have not suffered an attack of that magnitude again. We lost some freedoms and gained some peace of mind. We certainly lost an illusion of safety that day that I doubt anyone who lived through it will ever feel again.

***

In the spirit of moving forward, I think I'll chat about a mindless little nothing much on this September 11. About how the wind caught a little green leaf outside my kitchen window and held it dancing there long enough for me to catch it over and over and over.

Of course there's a trick. It remained there turning and swaying for ten minutes or more. How? Maybe you can guess. ☺

Monday, September 10, 2012

I was so excited reading Jen's A Garden of Threads while visiting my Mosaic Monday Friends last night. Besides seeing some really wonderful mosaics there, you can learn about the four majors as discussed in a photography class titled "The Art of Seeing" that Jen has recently taken. I was excited to be learning something interesting and I was excited because I had just tried this new angle myself. This very photo was featured in my mosaic yesterday, though it didn't show up very well. One might not have been able to tell that I was nearly lying on the ground with the camera shooting up through the zinnias. (I do this for the amusement of the neighbors.) I liked how it came out. Now I'm going to try some other majors.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

One of us slept; the other read. One of us woke up, baked some cookies, ate some cookies and then padded about with camera in hand taking pictures of the other's ear and odd and sundry things in the yard like pine cones and tassels, oak leaves and acorns, zinnias growing tall, and wild nasturtiums. Is it time for bed yet?

Please have a look at the other Mosaic Monday offerings. They'll be much more interesting than this I promise you. Just go to Little Red House. Mary'll be waiting!